S.A.A. Calvert's Blog: Steph's world

Just finished the latest work, 'Exit Wounds'. It is in review with Amazon as I type this.

It is a collection of six stories, all related to travel and escape.

HOME FREE: a woman leaves her homeland to escape torture. How will she be received?

TAKING HOLD OF LIFE: a couple live in an awful town, the husband beaten down by incessant bullying at work,

YOU WANT SALAD?: a woman takes a city break, and for the first time in ages, she is chatted up. Unfortunately, her swain's vision of true romance is a little unconventional.

HUMMINGBIRD: a woman flies to a tropical island for sun, sea and ornithology, where she meets a handsome man. Can she trust him? Novel length.

THE KING IN YELLOW: he drags her off, kicking and screaming, to Paris for a surprise event. Can she cope?

A PLACE BY THE SEA: a middle-aged woman seeks her dream home.

After a bit of a slog, this one emerged as a monster at 248K words. It is the sequel to 'Lifeline', and brings Debbie Petrie Wells' story to a conclusion. Of sorts.

'Lifelines', the latest novel in the Sussex Border Stories, is finished. at least on the writing front. Now, all (!!!) I need to do is build the manuscript file, proof it, etc, etc.

The following book, 'Broken Wings', is already underway.

I have spent a little while at two jobs over the last few weeks. First, I have published 'The Job' as a paperback.

Second, I have worked through the original (and badly proofed manuscript of 'Viewpoints', and removed as many of the mistakes as I can, including rewriting a couple of scenes.

At some point (but not tonight!) I will get back down to writing 'Lifeline' and its sequel, 'Broken Wings', and my next volume of shorter works, as yet untitled.

A long stint of formatting and typo spotting, but at last I have the paperback version awaiting print approval.

Well, that's done. "Dancing to a New Beat", book 11 of the Sussex Border Stories, is now 'in review' with Amazon and should be available in a couple of days or so. It is a hefty book, at just under 180k words, so it may be useful as a holiday read or even, if I buckle down to sort the paperback edition, a doorstop or draught excluder.

Now on the home stretch of 'Dancing to a New Beat', the second of my Diane Owens books. There are a few loose ends to tie up before I move to the final scenes, including a wedding or two, or perhaps three, four...

The word count is currently at 160K, so it is going to be a bit of a hefty tome. There are some old friends popping in for a visit, as well as several of what I hope work as edge-of-the-seat moments. All I can promise in all good faith is that no alpacas were hurt in the book's production.

Book number ten in the Sussex Border Stories is now in the 'review' pipeline for publication. The story follows Diane Owens, introduced in 'Sisters'.

Well, 'A Longer War' came out a little while ago, and is selling nicely. All the time I was writing it, I was also working on the next volume of 'Sussex Border Stories', which is called 'Sisters'. After a mammoth session of formatting, it is now in the publishing pipeline. They say "up to 72 hours", so it shouldn't be long before it is available on Kindle.

The book is a lesbian romance combined with a police procedural story, so it will hopefully have something for a multitude of tastes. If you read it, please let me know what you think.

'A Longer War' is now published, formatted for me by a good friend. It is my usual mix of unpleasant reality in contrast with humanity, love and friendship, but once again as is usual with my work there are some awfully dark moments.